Sex determination in Drosophila melanogaster: analysis of transformer-2, a sex-transforming locus.
The transformer-2 (tra-2) locus is one of a set of regulatory loci that control sex determination in Drosophila melanogaster. Temperature-shift experiments with temperature-sensitive tra-2 mutants demonstrate that within single cell lineages tra-2+ function is required at several times, and probably continuously, during development for the occurrence of a series of determinative decisions necessary for female sexual differentiation. Analysis of the effects of tra-2 in the genital disc demonstrates that the tra-2+ function is necessary in females both to prevent male sexual differentiation and to permit female differentiation. These and other results support the model that the tra-2+ and tra+ loci act to control the expression of the bifunctional doublesex (dsx) locus.
D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D005809:Genes, Regulator; D006066:Gonads / Q000196:embryology; D012732:Sex Determination Analysis; D012733:Sex Differentiation; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors